


A 25th of May

by Miuku



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Gen, How Do I Tag, The People's Revolution of the Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May, Yes I know the name is stupid but I couldn't think of anything better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 19:05:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14754528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miuku/pseuds/Miuku
Summary: Vetinari is back in Ankh-Morpork after some traveling. It's 25th of May and he decides to visit John Keel's grave late at night. Set some years after the revolution.





	A 25th of May

**Author's Note:**

> This really isn't going anywhere, but I just wanted to write something for this May 25th, and when I started this I wanted to write something about Vetinari. I tried to make him something in between how I imagine him being during Night Watch and how he is in the relative present-day of the books; Not as idealistic and excited about making A Brave New World anymore, but not as hard and cynical with the idea that everyone is evil as he later is. And Vimes, well, I imagine things went downhill for him pretty quickly after the revolution.

When John Keel, Dai Dickins, Horace Nancyball, Snouty, Billy Wiglet, Ned Coates, and Reg Shoe fought and died and were buried (although Reg Shoe didn't stay buried very long), lilac didn't grow at the Small Gods' cemetery. Lilac flowers were of course brought to those graves on May 25th, but no one ever thought to plant a whole bush there.

As years passed and Lord Snapcase started becoming more obsessed with his own security, it became unsafe to plant a lilac bush there. There were few people who knew what lilac had to do with John Keel, and even fewer of those served Snapcase, but one could never be too careful. The people who had been there still carried a lilac on the 25th, but rarely openly.

Vetinari spent several years after the revolution travelling. It was for his own safety; he had a reason to believe Snapcase would want him dead if he found out it was Vetinari who had assassinated Winder. When Vetinari had graduated from the Guild School, he travelled to Genua to visit his aunt. Genua was far enough from Ankh-Morpork. After that he visited many interesting places and met many interesting people. However he did still end up spending the May 25th in Ankh-Morpork a few times. He wore a lilac, although he also kept it hidden. He visited the cemetery late at night, when everyone else had already left. Only a few of them had seen him, and they most likely wouldn't recognize him if they met him again. He didn't want to be mistaken for Snapcase's spy. Besides, even if they did recognize him, he wouldn't have had anything to say to them, and he doubted they'd have anything to say to him either. They had hardly anything in common. It was better they didn't meet.

 

It had been exactly five years since Snapcase had become the patrician. Havelock Vetinari was in Ankh-Morpork again. It was almost midnight when he came to the Small Gods' Cemetery. The gate opened quietly and he walked in. The seven graves didn't look special in any way, except for the lilac flowers and a hard-boiled egg on Keel's grave. Vetinari didn't know why, but the previous time he'd been here on 25th, there had also been an egg. He assumed it was some sort of joke for those who had known Keel better.

Vetinari looked around quietly. When he was sure he was alone, he approached the graves. He walked to Keel's grave and stood looking at it for a moment. He took off the sprig of lilac he'd been wearing. Carefully he laid it next to the other lilacs. Then he took a small sapling of lilac from the bag he carried.

"You may not have achieved what you wanted, Sergeant Keel, but at least you tried. You tried being sane in a world gone mad, and it didn't work, it never does, but you tried and I respect you for that", he said quietly. "And I've got a little present for you. Not that you'd have much need for it, but I want you to know that I remember."

He felt slightly stupid for talking to a grave, but he had wanted to say it.He sat down on the ground behind the grave and started digging the dirt. It was harder work than he had expected, but not so hard it'd be any problem. When he thought the hole was deep enough, he placed the lilac sapling carefully in it.

Vetinari had just finished his work when he heard the gate open and footsteps approach on the gravel path. Quickly he left the grave and disappeared into nearby shadows.

Vetinari saw someone walk towards Keel's grave. The person walked with the uncertain, swaying steps of someone who had drunk more than their share. The pale moonlight reflected on the person's breastplate and showed his face slightly better. The breastplate was battered and dirty, and there was Night Watch's badge attached to it. Vetinari noticed a sprig of lilac, too. The man was not a spy, then.

The man sat down in front of Keel's grave. Vetinari heard him speaking, but the man's speech was too slurred for him to make out most of the words. The man sat there quite a while, sometimes drinking from a bottle he had in his hand.

Suddenly he stopped and raised his head. He tried to stand up, fell back on his feet, and ended up crawling on all fours. He went to the lilac sapling Vetinari had just planted. Vetinari watched curiously the man as he raised a shaking hand to touch the lilac.

After a while the man turned back to Keel's grave and started talking again. He seemed to be crying. Then the man collapsed. It wasn't dramatic. His speech slowed, and then he fell silently face down on the dirt in front of the grave.

Vetinari stayed in his place for a while. When it became clear the man was not even attempting to get up, he finally went to investigate.

The first thing he noticed was the smell of alcohol, so strong he thought it would never leave his clothes. Still he walked closer and knelt down beside the man. He put one hand close to the man's mouth. The other hand seeked for a pulse from his neck. Soon Vetinari was sure the man was alive. He reached the conclusion that the man had most likely just drunk himself to that state.

For a while he thought to just leave him where he lay. He had no reason to do anything for this stranger he didn't even know, the only thing connecting them being that they both wore the lilac. However, somehow it didn't feel right.

Moonlight touched the man's face. It took Vetinari a while to recognize him, but then he remembered the young boy he had seen Keel knock unconscious before the final fight. He didn't even know his name. But could it be the same person? he wondered. Vetinari remembered a skinny boy, maybe not even his age and definitely not any older than him. The face now before him seemed years older than Vetinari was. Or could alcohol and five years really do that to a man? Perhaps, but in that case, life really had not been kind to him.

Vetinari sighed. He could not just leave this man there, not tonight. Any other day he would have just walked past him, but at this time, in this place, he felt that he owed it to the man. Or if not to that man, then at least to John Keel. Keel who had looked at a bunch of ordinary, poor people and decided that it was his job to protect them because no one else did. Keel who had stood and fought instead of running. 

Quietly Vetinari took off the lilac sprig from the man's clothes and put it next to the others on Keel's grave. Then he picked the man up and slung him over his shoulder. Small Gods' Cemetery wasn't exactly next to the nearest Watch house - Treacle Mine Road - but it wasn't an impossible distance.


End file.
